Brockton slay victim withdrew restraining order against husband two days before death

BROCKTON – Sylvia Saint Louis knew about the beatings her daughter, Florence, endured during her 15-year marriage to Jean Michel Beaulieu. She also knew about voodoo curses that she claims Beaulieu cast upon her 37-year-old daughter, a mother of four who was found dead in her Forest Avenue apartment on Friday.

But she said she didn’t know that her daughter had twice filed for restraining orders against Beaulieu, only to withdraw the protective orders days later.

“Anytime Florence tried to communicate with us, he beat her up,” said Saint Louis, 57, of Orlando, Fla., as she sat in Brockton District Court Monday afternoon, awaiting a custody hearing for her four grandchildren, who were placed in state custody after their mother’s death.

“He tried to kill Florence all the time, with voodoo,” said Saint Louis, whose husband is a Baptist pastor.

No arrests had been made by Monday afternoon, Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said Monday.

Middleton would not say whether Jean Michel Beaulieu, of Dorchester, is a suspect in the case. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

An autopsy is being done to determine the cause and manner of death, said Middleton, who urged anyone with information about Beaulieu’s death to call Brockton detectives at 508-941-0234.

Yellow police tape cordoned off the house at 124 Forest Ave., where Florence Beaulieu was found dead, reportedly by her daughters, on Friday afternoon. A religious candle burned on the front steps, next to flowers. Officials have called her death suspicious.

In recent weeks, before she filed for divorce on April 18, Florence Beaulieu celebrated her independence with smiley faces and by proclaiming her faith in God in a April 6 post to Facebook.

“I am finally FREE and it’s the best feeling ever,” she wrote. “Florence... is being born again. Giving up, never one of my options. For the nonbelievers, there is a God indeed and I am a true testimony of his existence.”

Beaulieu worked as a certified nursing assistant at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton, an 88-bed facility where Beaulieu was “highly respected” by her colleagues, a spokesman there said Monday.

“She was always very happy, always wearing a smile,” said communications director Bob McCrystal. “We’re in a state of shock here and really just grieving a loss.”

Last Wednesday, two days before she died, Florence Beaulieu and her estranged husband both appeared in Brockton District Court for a restraining order hearing. The restraining order, which Florence Beaulieu obtained on April 30, was terminated Wednesday at her request, court documents show.

In a court affidavit, Florence Beaulieu detailed a lengthy history of abuse by her husband, whom she met in Florida before marrying in 1999.

“Every time he would beat me up, he bit, slapped and had spit on my face, as a result he has been arrested,” she wrote in the affidavit. “On many occasions I had to call the police as a result of physical abuse. I have had to go to the hospital after he beat me.”

Florence Beaulieu wrote that her husband “has been following me to the bank and my mail has been missing” and that she had to change her telephone number because of “non-stop” calls from him. She wrote that on April 29, her children had found a “voodoo candle” near their front door.

“I and the children are fearful for our lives and feel very threatened by him,” she wrote.

Brockton police responded to calls to 124 Forest Ave. twice in recent weeks: for an unknown complaint at 12:31 a.m. on April 30, and for a report of a family disturbance at 12:17 a.m. on April 3, police logs show.

In 2012, while living in Randolph, Florence Beaulieu had obtained another restraining order against her husband in Quincy District Court, court documents show.

“The verbal abuse and lack of respect is too much for me to handle,” Florence Beaulieu wrote in a court affidavit on Oct. 17, 2012.

At her request, the protective order was terminated the next day, on Oct. 18, 2012. She wrote that she and Jean Michel Beaulieu “talked the situation through.”

“Once again, my husband and I are doing great and I want to cancel this,” she wrote.

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapa@enterprisenews.com or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.

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